Reform Scotland News: 3 August 2015

All newspaper references refer to Scottish editions. Where there is a link to a newspaper’s website, the relevant page reference is highlighted and underlined. In addition to the newspaper stories outlined below, further news coverage can be found online at BBC News Scotland,STV News and Sky News.

PoliticsLib Dems: Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie has commented that his party had to re-establish itself as the party of “conscience and reform”. (Scotsman page 1)

House of Lords: David Cameron is facing criticism over the expected imminent appointment of a number of new Tory Lords. It is expected that Glaswegian businesswoman Michelle Mone will be one of the new peers. (Scotsman page 8, David Torrance in the Herald, P&J page 14, Alex Salmond in the P&J, Alex Salmon in the Courier)

Kezia Dugdale, one of the contenders for the Scottish Labour leadership, has called for the House of Lords to be replaced with a democratically elected second chamber based in Glasgow. (Herald page 6, Mail page 10, P&J page 14)

Jeremy Corbyn: Jeremy Corbyn has commented that he would invite Blairites into his shadow cabinet. (Herald page 6)

Kezia Dugdale has commented that if Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership he would leave Labour carping from the sidelines. (The National)

SNP: Brian Monteith in the Scotsman comments that by focusing on another referendum, opposition parties are helping the SNP avoid awkward questions about other policies.

Tax credits: According to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) 346,000 children in Scotland will be worse off as a result of changes the UK Government made to tax credits. (Herald page 6, The National)

EconomyRBS: George Osborne is reportedly preparing to begin the sale of £2.5 billion of RBS shares within the next few days. (Scotsman page 1)

Fracking: SNP members are reportedly set to tell the leadership to ban fracking at the party’s conference in October. (Herald page 2)

JusticePolice Scotland: There are claims that Police Scotland breached regulations and spied on a journalist to uncover sources. (Herald page 1)

HealthNHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has reportedly been paying consultants £1,500 a night to stay in hotels as a result of staff shortages. (Heraldpage 1)

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